The present invention relates generally to the field of power management, and more particularly to the allocation of power and management of power consumption in a hierarchical power distribution network.
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as servers, telecommunication devices, storage systems, or the like. A data center can occupy one room of a building, one or more floors, or an entire building. Most of the equipment is often in the form of servers mounted in rack cabinets, which are usually placed in single rows forming corridors (so-called aisles) between them. This aisle configuration allows people access to the front and rear of each cabinet. Servers differ greatly in size from one shelf space (1U) servers to large freestanding storage silos, which may occupy many square feet of floor space. Some equipment such as mainframe computers and storage devices are often as big as the rack cabinets themselves and are placed alongside the rack cabinets.